Team Focus: Hamburg Putting Early Season Woes Behind Them

The Bundesliga got off to a flying start in August with one of its biggest clubs, Hamburg SV, staring a potential relegation battle in the face.

The summer brought fresh hope for Rothosen with former Chelsea director of football Frank Arnesen taking up the ‘Sporting Director’ role with a long-term view of restoring Hamburg to their former glories.

A number of the club’s more experienced stars were shipped out in the summer with Frank Rost heading to the MLS, Ze Roberto leaving and both Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Joris Mathijsen joining La Liga side Malaga.

In the first few months of the campaign, there were many fingers pointed at the lack of genuine quality coming through the arrivals door at the Volkspark but the likes of Michael Mancienne, Gokhan Tore, Jacopo Sala and Jeffrey Bruma – all from Chelsea – brought some serious long-term talent.

It has taken some time – but finally we are seeing the best of Hamburg’s shining talents.

Michael Oenning’s short-lived spell at the helm at Hamburg lasted just six matches into this season with HSV losing five and drawing one. It was temporary coach Rodolfo Cardoso, previously an HSV player and youth coach at the club, who got the first win of the campaign with Rothosen coming from behind to defeat Stuttgart 2-1.

The 43-year-old’s last match in charge was a 2-1 defeat against Schalke 04 as the Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL)’s temporary license lasts just 15 days.

The managerial baton then moved to Sporting Director Frank Arnesen, who installed a winning fight into his players as they secured their second win of the season in Freiburg.

After over a month of deliberation, Arnesen unveiled ex-Bayern star Thorsten Fink as Hamburg’s new head coach. The Fink reign has seen some crucial improvements at the Volkspark with HSV now aiming to reach the top-half of the Bundesliga.

Since Fink arrived from Swiss champions FC Basel, Hamburg have won four, drawn nine and lost two from 14. However, despite the improvements, Hamburg have struggled when playing at the Imtech Arena with just two home victories under Fink. In their away matches, Hamburg are unbeaten under their new manager, with impressive performances against the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach.

One of Arnesen’s first additions in the summer was 20-year-old Turkish international Gokhan Töre who arrived from Chelsea for just over £1m. Töre has featured mainly on the right-hand side of Fink’s 4-4-2 formation but is naturally a left-footed player.

At just over 5’9”, some Hamburg fans have compared Töre to Lionel Messi due to his low centre of gravity and excellent dribbling ability. He completes, on average, 6.3 dribbles per match and 2.1 key passes and has racked up six assists in his debut season at Hamburg.

His WhoScored rating has risen immensely since Fink arrived to 7.31 from 14 league appearances this season. Töre has an average passing stat of 28.6 per game and an average pass completion percentage of 80.7% from 457 attempts.

Another arrival from Stamford Bridge that has prompted some interest from the UK is 24-year-old former England U-21 international defender Michael Mancienne. The central-defender has had a tough introduction to life in the Bundesliga with most of his starts coming under Michael Oenning, but his maturity and mentality to come through a number of high-scoring defeats is a testament to his playing time with Wolves over the last 18 months.

Mancienne has a WhoScored rating of 6.21 from just six starts and despite his defensive mistakes this season, his general playing ability has caught the eye. His pass completion ratio stands at over 80% from 227 passes and he wins over 1.5 aerial battles, per match.

In the four months under Thorsten Fink, a number of players at Hamburg have improved and subsequently become regular features at the Volkspark. Those, such as, Marcell Jansen, Jaroslav Drobny and Heiko Westermann have come on leaps-and-bounds under the former German international.

One player, in particular, that has impressed is right-back Dennis Diekmeier who has made 18 appearances for Hamburg in the Bundesliga this season. Diekmeier has a WhoScored rating of 6.78 and his WhoScored playing styles include short passing, crossing and dribbling. His pass completion ratio is over 78% and he completes, on average, 1.4 dribbles per game – although that statistic, in particular, would be very different just based on matches under Fink.

After a season of incredible emotions and ‘ups-and-downs’, it seems that Hamburg are finally beginning to reach some consistency and the club is crawling slowly back up the table through a very congested set of teams. Just two points separate the teams from 8th to 13th, and there are just nine points between Hamburg and a European place.

The Arnesen project is well underway and the likes of Jacopo Sala (20) and Tolgay Arslan (21) have excelled in recent weeks in the first-team. This season has also seen Zhi Gin Lam (20) and Son-Heung Min (19) break in to Thorsten Fink’s starting eleven. With another teenage talent in Maxi Beister set to return from a very successful loan spell at Fortuna Dusseldorf, there is certainly plenty of talent at the Volkspark for next season.